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Episode 32 - Stern's 'Miracle' Year
PodcastAnalysis updated 2d ago58 min listen
Highlights
- All nine machines produced by Stern in 1980 were successful hits, which the hosts characterize as exceptional for a single manufacturer in one year.
- Stern Electronics machines from 1980 are now highly sought after by collectors, with prices skyrocketing due to low original production runs compared to Bally and Williams.
- Harry Williams designed the first three games released in 1980: Galaxy (January), Ali (March), and Big Game (March).
- Sea Witch was heavily tweaked and later redesigned by George Gomez as The Beatles, making the game significantly easier to play.
- Galaxy had production of approximately 3,000 units, making it one of the highest-produced machines on the 1980 list.
- Quicksilver was designed by Joe Juice Jr. (JJJ) and only 1,200 units were produced.
- The 'green games bad luck' superstition in pinball originated around 1980 or the EM era, stemming from poor sales of well-designed green-colored games.
- Stern Electronics was simultaneously manufacturing arcade video games (like X-Game) alongside pinball machines in 1980, which may have diverted production capacity and focus.
- Quicksilver's artwork was directly adapted from the cover of Heavy Metal Magazine Issue #3, Vol. 2 (July 1978) by artist Philippe Caza, with minimal changes beyond arm position and color.
Notable quotes
“All nine machines produced in 1980 all of them hit which is nuts.”
“I'm on the record as this is my favorite solid state machine of all time. It's the machine that made me fall in love with games of this era. We wouldn't have Wedgehead without me playing this game.”
“Harry Williams saw things in pinball that nobody else saw, like truly a genius.”
“This is a call to arms. This is now a player's podcast. Scream at your operators, get them on the fucking floor.”
“It only has one weakness and that's solved by the next game on the list but it needs one more digit on the score display it's too easy to roll over.”
“It plays like a tight track for sure. It's fast it's kinetic and I love just like what Ty said when you start the game you're like anything... But then at a certain point, you start getting constricted.”
“There's not a single game that Data East made that holds a candle to Quicksilver.”
“Bally drop targets from this era are so bad. They're just they look cool. They're big chunks of plastic... but they don't work right.”
Entities
- Bally· company
- Chicago Coin· company
- Data East· company
- Gottlieb· company
- Stern Electronics· company
- Stern Pinball· company
- Williams· company
- Alan· person
- Alex· person
- Doug Watson· person
- Gary Stern· person
- George Gomez· person
- Harry Williams· person
- Joe Juice Jr.· person
- Keith Elwin· person
- Mike Kubin· person
- Philippe Caza· person
- Roger Sharpe· person
- Ty Palmer· person
- Wedgehead· venue
